Discovering New Books through New Pages

Onward in my month of telling blog readers about new resources for discovering new books online.  I'm having fun wading through the sites, both new and old.  And speaking of old, I can't forget about New Pages-- a site I've used for years, without knowing how powerful it can be.


Many short fiction writers are familiar with this lively and well-organized website.  It features a running Call for Submissions that many of us use to find the right home for their short fiction or chapbooks-- you can check the calendar, and then see if the magazine has been reviewed in New Pages. Another plus of New Pages reviews:  they feature both print and online magazines.


But that's not all.  New Pages also features The Book Stand which is a "virtual rack" of new books from independent and university publishers. I like (and I write) flash fiction, for  example -- and that's one form that is hard to find.  But New Pages offers lots of great suggestions, including Editor's Picks.  

Plus, on the first day of every month, New Book Reviews offer reviews of poetry, short story collections and other books that are worth finding.  If you're weary of the mainstream, this is a great place to know about.  Take a hop over and find some good books.


'via Blog this'

It's not just about the positive reviews

Among authors, there is a big debate:  do on the positive reviews matter or can readers be swayed just as much by the negative ones?  I asked TV programming strategy pal (and fellow bookworm) Judith Orlowski to weigh in on this-- and think about at least one book that she found online.  (You can find her on Linkedin.) 

Here's what she has to say:

I was looking for a book at a time when life was just not as much fun as it used to be. 
Normally I don't read comedy but thought this time, why not?  

I scanned the Usual Suspects -Amazon, Bookbub and so on.  Then on Goodreads, a certain (unknown) reviewer mentioned that Tim Dorsey had another novel out with his demented serial killer protagonist Serge. The novel was called Atomic Lobster.  I knew that this wasn't going to be just any old killer.    

I bought it-- and then I read by tiny kindle light while my husband slept.  By the time that Serge and his drug addled sidekick were debating the relative aesthetic merits of straight-to-video release of "Bum Fights" vs. the sequel to "Clowns versus Mimes", I surrendered to tears of laughter.  I have read others in the series (there are over a dozen) -- but few are as funny as this one, in which Serge rids the country of scumbags.   

Here is what I did not mention: the Goodreads reviewer hated the book!  But he or she described it in a way that it sound like "my kinda thing."  I don't remember the name of the reviewer or the phrases that made me snag the book.  But let me say thank you-- wherever he or she may be.